


Turn Back Time

by HopeCoppice



Category: Young Dracula
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Time Travel, there's a lot of dust here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-30
Updated: 2013-10-06
Packaged: 2017-12-28 02:23:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 4,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/986554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeCoppice/pseuds/HopeCoppice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the following prompt from mygayshoes: "If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I’d love to see your take on the fandom-standard time travel fic. Like Vlad has fun with the Blood Mirror and goes on a bit of a power trip like “Woo, yeah I can fix all my mistakes hell yeah”, but eventually figuring out that everything he does makes things a bunch more worse or something?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eshnoazot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eshnoazot/gifts).



> For a prompt intended to cheer you up, this got pretty angsty. Chapters are short but there will be many and they're done now so! Hopefully updates will be fast. This is unbeta'ed so all mistakes are of course mine.

_To a vampire with sufficient power, the Blood Mirror is a weapon of infinite potential. A strong enough member of the clan can, through entering the Mirror, manipulate space and even time to his own will. Caution is, of course, required-_

Vlad didn't bother to read any more. He dropped the book and rushed to the Mirror room.

He'd been trying for months to get his head back together, to be happy and normal and a competent leader of the undead. He couldn't escape the fact that he'd messed up, though. He couldn't just forget about what he'd done to Bertrand – loyal, irreplacable Bertrand – but there was nothing he could do to fix it, and he'd been fading into a pale, miserable imitation of his former self. No matter how much his father might approve of his new pallid complexion, Vlad himself was sinking into despair. It felt as if nothing would ever be alright again. But now – now this book held the answers. Now the Mirror would help him fix everything.

Working out how to manipulate time took him a little while, but he turned his mind to what his tutor had told him when he was still struggling with simple things like transformation and telepathy.  
“Focus on the result, and the process will come instinctively.” Thinking of somebody _hearing_ his thoughts had, eventually, brought him telepathic success where all else had failed, and he had to admit that when he'd turned into a bat and flown off to rescue Ingrid, he'd been thinking about the flight and its destination far more than he'd been thinking about shrinking bones or webbing elbows. Now he closed his eyes and turned his mind to the moment of Bertrand's death, to being there, to changing things.

The first time, he arrived in exactly the instant he'd been aiming for – only to realise in horror that the stake had already pierced his tutor's heart, was piercing it even as he opened his eyes. He could only watch once more as Bertrand crumbled; it was the work of seconds to run back to the Mirror room, blinking back tears with difficulty, and enter the Mirror again.


	2. Chapter 2

The second time, he thought about it a little harder and managed to wriggle into the skin of his past self just as Bertrand came through the door. He flexed his fingers, dropping the stake to the floor, and felt a stab of guilt as he took in the enormous smile on his tutor's face and the way his arms were stretched out, seeking Vlad's embrace.  
“Vlad, I've found proof-” The stake hit the stone with a clatter, Erin squeaked from somewhere across the room, and Bertrand's face fell as he stopped short, staring between the discarded weapon and Vlad's guilt-stricken face. “Vlad?”  
“I know. I know. The shapeshifter, you found her, right?”  
“How did you know it was a woman?” Bertrand's eyes widened in sudden realisation and before Vlad knew what was happening, Bertrand had snatched up the stake and was lunging towards him. Vlad caught his wrist, wishing Erin would stop making startled noises in the corner, and a desperate struggle for control of the weapon began.

“You should have staked me when you had the chance – that _is_ what you were planning, isn't it?”  
“Why are you-?”  
“He doesn't know who you are, he wouldn't have said 'her'-”  
“Bertrand, it's me, I swe-” A slightly overzealous tug of the stake brought Bertrand stumbling towards him and then-  
Vlad stared, appalled, at the settling dust, and hurried back to the Mirror.


	3. Chapter 3

 The third time, he went back further.

“Bertrand, I... I need you to seduce Adze for me.”  
“Absolutely not.”  
“Please, Bertrand, it's import- no, you know what, forget it. We'll find another way round it. I need you to keep an eye on security. Can we talk about it later tonight?” Bertrand seemed nonplussed, but relieved, and Vlad winced; he'd never realised how _much_ Bertrand had hated what he'd been asked to do. Still, if Vlad told Bertrand about the heat sensors now, he'd be able to see Elizabeta coming much earlier.

He waited and waited in his room, but as the sun rose he realised that Bertrand really wasn't coming. Erin met him in the corridors.  
“I'm so sorry, I don't know why- I just- with everything that's happening- this isn't me, I don't know what came over me-” Vlad's stomach dropped.  
“What's happened?”  
“He wouldn't help us, and I just... I panicked, I got angry-”  
“ _What happened?_ ”  
“I staked Bertrand. I'm so-”

Vlad didn't wait to hear any more; he just turned on his heel and went back to the Mirror, cursing under his breath.


	4. Chapter 4

 The fourth time, he tried to save Erin.

As it turned out, though, some things just weren't meant to be, and being nicer to Bertrand was all well and good but he didn't get a chance to remind him to open the door for Erin when he found her – he was too busy being ushered to the ceremony, trying to act as hungover as he knew he had been, and trying to outwit Adze. Bertrand charged in to save the day and this time, Vlad didn't question him, treating him to a grateful smile instead.

It wasn't enough; Erin still fell from the roof, and though Ingrid had taken him aside not long after Erin's desertion with Malik to have a stern word about consent, Vlad found himself as weak in the face of his girlfriend's death as he had been the first time. He knew what he was doing as he bit her, and he hated himself for it, but he wasn't perfect and his selfish desires won out. This time, Bertrand was less wary, was closer than before as Vlad tasted blood – again; he'd have to revamp all over again now – and when Erin threw herself upright and lashed out at the nearest vampire in her panic, Bertrand was sent flying across the room and through the curtains, crumbling to ash in the sunlight.

Vlad glared at his newly-transformed girlfriend.  
“Will you stop doing that?” She didn't understand, of course, but it made him feel marginally better as he stalked back to the Mirror to try again.


	5. Chapter 5

 Once he'd set right the mistakes of his previous attempt, Vlad left the Mirror alone for an hour or so, regrouping and trying to muster the energy for another go. He was approaching the problem wrong, clearly. Perhaps, instead of trying to change his relationship with Bertrand, he should look at the external threat that had thrown their world into disarray. He didn't know where Elizabeta had been, prior to Bertrand's death, so he couldn't get to her directly, but he did know that Malik had had a lot to do with it.  
“You're right,” he told his tutor, half an hour after reaching this conclusion, “we can't trust the street-fangs. Especially their leader. If he puts a toe out of line, stake him as an example to the rest.” Bertrand nodded solemnly, but he seemed a little startled by Vlad's abrupt change in tone.

Vlad was surprised; Bertrand made no attempt to carry out Malik's pre-emptive death sentence when the boy waltzed off with Ryan, or started a riot at the football match. Vlad was beginning to think, as he warped time around him to race back towards the present, that nothing was going to change at all. But then he found himself walking into the revamp room – why hadn't he bothered to check in on them before? - to see Malik advancing on Jonno as Bertrand stood between them.  
“Malik, _no_. You can do better than this.” The other SCRAP kids were advancing, too, clearly hungry, and Bertrand's face twisted in what seemed to be genuine remorse as their leader took another menacing step forward.

“I'm sorry.” The tutor's hand shot forward, stake clutched in it, and Malik was gone before he had time to do much more than glance down in horror. Bertrand glanced across at Vlad, as if to check for his approval or perhaps noticing for the first time that he was there – and the air rippled behind him. There was no time to cry out a warning, no time to do anything, only to watch as Bertrand crumbled to dust in front of him again. Almost without thinking, he shot a bolt of sunlight at the ripple of air and watched even more dust appear from nowhere. The shapeshifter was dead, but that didn't matter.

Vlad hesitated for only a second before turning and trudging back towards the Mirror room.


	6. Chapter 6

Minutes after he'd watched Malik turn to dust, he was storming determinedly into the street-fangs' den, Bertrand a solid and reassuring presence at his side. He had to do this himself, then. It had been cowardly to ask his tutor to do it, really, but then Bertrand had been the first to notice anything amiss; he hadn't wanted to steal his thunder. This time, though, in the battle for Bertrand's unlife, he would get his priorities sorted. The important thing was that Malik had to die so that Bertrand could be safe.

He barely waited for the football match to get out of hand before he cornered Malik and drove a stake through his chest. He made his way back to his coffin room with a sense of weary relief; it was done. Bertrand, who'd been charged with seeing the more unruly members of the crowd off the premises, could be safe now.

He opened the door to the coffin room and flinched; there stood Bertrand in his long, red coat, and kneeling at his feet was Bertrand, still in his referee's kit, a stake at his throat.  
“Amazing what the element of surprise will do,” the standing Bertrand purred, stroking the kneeling Bertrand's neck with the weapon, “to incapacitate even a formidable schoolteacher like this.”  
“Let him go, Elizabeta.” If she was surprised to be addressed by name, she didn't show it. “He's got nothing to do with this.”  
“You killed my son. Now I'll take someone you care about.”  
“Then why me?” Bertrand snarled, “You hardly picked a devastating-”  
“Is that really what you think?” Vlad interrupted before he even had the chance to consider the wisdom of it. He was rewarded with a tiny smile as Bertrand's entire face lit up. Elizabeta snarled, yanking him backwards by the hand tangled in his hair and leaning in close to hiss.  
“See? He does love you. Bad luck.”

Then the stake shifted downwards, and Vlad was out of the door and running towards the Mirror room before it was over. He couldn't bear to see that again.


	7. Chapter 7

 Carefully, methodically, Vlad went back and changed his behaviour so that everything would play out exactly as it had. He even wandered through the school to chat to Ingrid and his father about what had happened, just to make sure he hadn't left anything altered by mistake. That done, he returned to the Mirror room.

“I'm sorry, Adze, Ramanga – I'm not marrying anyone right now.” He didn't hold out much hope that this would save Bertrand, but at least this way his tutor wouldn't have to do anything he didn't feel comfortable with in order to try to get Vlad out of his engagement. Besides, maybe being upfront about things with Adze would be enough to win them as allies.

“You've dishonoured us, Dracula-” Some hope of that, then – Ramanga lunged forward with a stake and Vlad, stunned, didn't even think to move out of the way. Then something streaked past his vision, a blur of movement, and Bertrand was there between them, his own stake in Ramanga's chest, reducing him to dust. For a moment, Vlad felt only relief – and then he noticed the wooden tip sticking out of his tutor's back. Bertrand half-turned, as if to reassure himself that Vlad was safe, and fell apart in front of him.

Adze let out a distraught wail; Vlad just glared at her and walked out.

 


	8. Chapter 8

Vlad was losing track of how many times he'd tried to fix things, now. Perhaps he needed to go further back, to make a sacrifice in order to protect Bertrand.

He drew his hand back, releasing Bertrand from the hold he'd been in and watching stone become flesh once more.  
“Get out,” he told him, “and don't come back here.”  
“I can help. I can train you, teach you-”  
“ _Get out_ , Bertrand.” The older vampire frowned at the familiar use of his name, as if puzzled, and then his shoulders slumped slightly as he realised he was really, truly being dismissed.

He was halfway to the door when Vlad found himself calling out without thinking.   
“Two years, and then we'll see.” The smile Bertrand gave him at that could light up the world, and Vlad's unbeating heart clenched at the thought of letting him go. Still, it was for his own good.

As Bertrand walked through the school, Vlad hung back at a distance and followed him. He made his way up winding staircases to the point where the Dracula residence met the school – no doubt he was planning to retrieve his case from wherever he'd stashed it on his way to chase Vlad – before the Count stepped from the shadows.  
“Who on earth are _you_?” He'd never seen his father draw a stake before, but now he pulled one out from under his long coat and had thrust it through Bertrand's chest before either of the younger vampires could react.

“ _Dad!_ ” He stormed back down to the Mirror room, having a minor argument with its guardians before they realised that he definitely wasn't in need of any more evil reflections and let him pass. That was good; he didn't have time to waste. This needed to be sorted out.


	9. Chapter 9

 Once Bertrand's services as tutor had been engaged as they should have been, Vlad turned his mind to a conversation he'd had with Ingrid shortly after Malik and Erin had left. They had, admittedly, been a little drunk, but Vlad thought that probably, if anything, that made Ingrid _more_ useful as a source.  
“The time he tried to frame me for leaving Erin in the sun – you know, when Dad couldn't work out who was stealing his blood – we were both in the Blood Cellar. I think he was trying to flirt with me, but he wasn't really feeling it. That's when he told me Erin was gone. I think he'd already locked her out by then. He was _cunning_ , Vlad. If he'd really wanted your throne I think he probably could've got it...”

Now, Vlad listened at the cellar door as Ingrid and Bertrand practically purred at one another over a bottle of vintage blood. He grimaced without really knowing why it disturbed him so much – probably because that was his _sister_ Bertrand was sleazing all over – and turned the key in the lock before wedging it shut just to be safe. He headed upstairs to let Erin in, and even took her into town, because he could and she deserved it – she'd saved his unlife, after all, in the original timeline. It was a nice evening, but they were already missing that spark Vlad had always hoped for in a relationship. Perhaps it wasn't so bad that they were destined to break up one day, after all. Still, he had a decent enough time wandering through town with her.

When they returned just before midnight, Vlad went to let his sister and tutor out, pausing to listen once again at the cellar door.  
“You set this up, what, were you hoping if I was stuck with you I'd let you near me-?”  
“No, I swear- wait, did you set this up to accuse me-?”  
“I'll kill you-”  
“Wha- Ingrid, no, I don't want to- _ow_ , that does it-”  
“You'll pay for that-” He hurriedly unlocked the door, kicking the wedge aside, and threw it open... just in time to see the two trapped vampires look up at him in guilty unison, each holding a bit of broken crate that ended in the other's chest, and then vanish in a cloud of dust.

Vlad sighed.  
“ _One_ date. Was that so much to ask?” He trudged off back towards the Mirror room, grumbling to himself all the way.


	10. Chapter 10

 Perhaps he could give Bertrand some kind of distraction, some reason not to make himself untrustworthy with Sethius in the first place.  
“If you're staying with us, Wolfie, I want you to look after Bertrand for me, OK? Stop him being such a grumpy sod.” Wolfie nodded solemnly, and as Bertrand levelled his best glare at his ruler, Vlad spoke more pointedly. “And Bertrand, you can help me by looking after Wolfie. Buddy system.”

He'd expected more of an argument, but Bertrand was nothing if not patient, and patience with Wolfie, it seemed, paid off beautifully. The two became inseparable almost immediately, and the resulting division of Bertrand's time allowed Vlad ample opportunity to actually save him, just as soon as he worked out how. Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance.

He managed to skip forward by about three days before the Count snapped and 'accidentally' pushed Bertrand out into the courtyard in the middle of the day. Vlad was really going to have to start accounting for his father's jealous nature when he made plans. For now, though, all he could do was return to the Mirror room.


	11. Chapter 11

 Vlad was getting desperate by the time he'd fixed that mess. At last, he slipped back to the moment Bertrand had told him about the increase in slayings.  
“I'm sorry,” he told him, and at least that much was true. “I'll look into solutions. Excuse me a moment, I think I have a book somewhere that might help-” Bertrand narrowed his eyes suspiciously at him, and Vlad couldn't blame him; he had no clue how he could stop the slayings without the whole Sethius situation going as it had, and the only book he had any intention of fetching was The Book.

If he could open it and deal with Sethius somehow – he was stronger now than he had been then, perhaps he could just zone him and be done with it – then Bertrand wouldn't have to betray him and their trust wouldn't be broken; they'd never get into that situation in the first place. It was the perfect plan.

Sethius was stronger than he remembered, and didn't take particularly well to Vlad's attempts to encase him in rock. Vlad ran from the training room, trying to find a better strategic position, and found Bertrand coming the other way, apparently drawn by some strange connection to the Book itself.  
“Bertrand, come on, we've got to-” But Bertrand had noticed the strange old vampire, bearing down menacingly on his Chosen One, and run straight at him to intercept.

He was dust before Vlad reached the end of the corridor, but Vlad barely made it into the Mirror in time to undo what he'd just done. Bertrand had bought him the second of time that would, unbeknownst to the tutor, save all their unlives.


	12. Chapter 12

Having prevented all of their deaths at the hands of Sethius, setting things back to how they used to be, Vlad spent several long minutes deep in thought. Then, at last, he turned back time once more. If he couldn't save Bertrand, perhaps he could at least clear the air between them.  
“Bertrand,” he whispered, and watched the man sit up as if he hadn't just been sleeping. Why did Bertrand sleep in his clothes? That was ridiculous. “Is it you?”  
“Of course it's me. What's happened? Is everything alright?”

Vlad had intended to say something important, something profound and wise and apologetic, but instead all that escaped was a little whimper before, to his own mortification, he shook his head and buried his face against Bertrand's neck, practically climbing into his coffin to do it.  
“Is this about the wedding? You've still got three days, if you want to get out of it after all-”  
“It's not- blood, the wedding, I forgot how-”  
“Then what-?”  
“I can't- Bertrand-”  
 _“Vlad._ ” He waited until Vlad had got himself under control, blinking back tears. “What's wrong?” Holding the sobs back, however, proved impossible and he curled against Bertrand's body again as the tutor shuffled to make more space for him.  
“Ever since... everything I do makes you die!” And then he told him everything.

Bertrand listened in silence, and though he stiffened as Vlad told him of his original fate, he didn't move away, or take his arm from its comforting place around Vlad's shoulder. He simply stayed still and quiet as Vlad told him about all the many ways he'd got him killed. At last, Vlad ran out of things to say, and Bertrand sat there in silence for a few moments.  
“Tell me more about this trick with the Mirror,” he said at last, and Vlad blinked at him. _That_ was his response? After all Vlad had just confessed?  
“Bertrand... Did you... Do you understand what I'm saying? I'm going to kill you, and I can't stop it.”  
“I understand. Tell me about the Mirror, please.” Vlad explained it to him, from what the book had said to the way he'd learnt to manipulate time, but he still didn't see why this, of all things, was what Bertrand wanted to know.

When he'd finished explaining, there was another long silence, and then Bertrand spoke.  
“Do you think _I_ could do it?” Vlad frowned.  
“You're probably strong enough, but you can't access the Dracula Mirror and you were bitten, you don't have your own-”  
“Originally, you said, Erin entered the Mirror with Malik? And so did Elizabeta?”  
“I'm Erin's sire, and Malik's a Dracula. Elizabeta... she was with us, too, I suppose. And she had ridiculous powers-” Bertrand thought about that for a moment.  
“Then... I need you to use the Mirror to change one more thing, for me.”

Vlad returned to the strange world of reflections a little later with a strange, nervous feeling of anticipation in his stomach and the taste of a hard-won promise on his lips. He had told Bertrand he would go through with his plan, and now... now all that remained was to carry it out and hope it worked.


	13. Chapter 13

“Vlad, I've found proof-” Vlad kept the stake hidden behind his back and glanced at Erin, as if only now realising that she shouldn't have to witness Bertrand's execution.  
“Excuse us, Erin. Bertrand and I need to talk privately.” Then he took Bertrand's arm and marched him to the Mirror room, barring the door behind him.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”  
“I suppose I could just accept my fate, but... well, _you_ won't. So yes, I'm sure.”  
“You'll be bound to us _forever_ , Bertrand, if this even works.” Bertrand hesitated for a long second, then placed the slightest, most innocent of kisses on his student's cheek.  
“I've always been bound to you, Vlad.” Vlad's mind raced; surely Bertrand just meant that it had long been his unlife's calling to find the Chosen One? That was all. There was nothing else in it.

Bertrand smiled and stepped towards the Mirror, but Vlad shot out a hand to stop him.  
“It's safer if I at least help you in.” He let go of his tutor's arm and took his hand instead, as if to hand a lady into a carriage. “Good luck.” Bertrand squeezed his hand a fraction and stepped into the Mirror. Vlad went to tell his family how he'd slain Bertrand for a traitor, and hoped with all his unbeating heart that it wasn't the truth.

Then, job done, he made his own way through the glass to the night he'd begun this crazy adventure.


	14. Chapter 14

Bertrand wasn't in the Mirror room. For a moment, Vlad considered going back in, but Bertrand's words rang in his ear.  
 _“Please, let me do this. And if... if it doesn't work... There's no point telling you to just leave it, I suppose, but at least take a break. Get some rest. Read up on it.”  
“I... fine, I promise.”_

With a weary sigh, he trudged up to his coffin room, closed the door behind him, and slumped dejectedly into his coffin, muttering to himself.  
“All that for one kiss on the cheek, Vlad. He didn't even mean anything by-” He looked up, startled, as the shape of Bertrand standing behind the door finally registered.  
“From what you've said, if your family saw me, they'd stake me.” He didn't comment on what Vlad had been mumbling, though that might just have been because Vlad didn't give him much chance; he launched himself back across the room and threw his arms around his tutor.  
“You did it. Of course you did, you're _you_ \- oh, blood, thank blood-”  
“I'm bound to the Dracula clan now,” Bertrand reminded him gently, “you may be stuck with me.”  
“You're free to leave us, you know. It's only a symbolic sort of binding. Well, I mean – but you can still travel, if you want to leave-”  
“Do you want me to leave?”

Vlad looked up, then, into those fathomless blue eyes, and realised that 'no' wasn't nearly strong enough an answer. Cautiously, he lifted a hand to cradle Bertrand's cheek.  
“Tell me to stop and I will. You don't have to do anything you don't want to...”  
“Go on.” It was quiet, restrained; everything Vlad had learnt to expect from his tutor when he was waiting for Vlad to try out his latest bright idea. Slowly, carefully, as if waiting for Bertrand to spook, he turned his face up and brushed his lips over Bertrand's.

When he pulled back, Bertrand's eyes had fluttered closed and his hands came up to touch Vlad's arms.  
“I'm not stopping you,” he confirmed, “I don't plan to.”  
“Good,” Vlad told him, and kissed him again. “I'm glad you're back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go, mygayshoes - I hope you enjoyed it despite the repeated character deaths!


End file.
